I just updated and added to my new TeachersPayTeachers account. I only just discovered TpT, and I'm so excited! I have all these materials I've made over the years that I'll be redesigning and using again this year, so I'm excited to share them. I wish there was such a site years ago when I started! What a great resource!
Anyway, I uploaded a School-Home Communication Log. This is my version of a frequently-used communication log to keep track of home communications. This is great when questions arise about when the last communication was as well as informal data tracking of how often contact with home was required. I also like to use this to keep myself accountable for contacting the family for POSITIVE reasons!
I also uploaded a Data Collection Form. This includes some continuous and discontinuous data collection/measurement forms typically used in my field. Included here are Whole Interval Recording, Partial Interval Recording, Momentary Time Sampling, Frequency/Rate, Duration, Latency, Rating Scale, and Permanent Product. Data sheets come with blank sheet plus an example of a filled-out form.
Here is a quick break-down of how and when to use these measurement forms.
Scenario: Classroom teacher comes to you and says, "Little Johnny is always getting out of his seat and disrupting the class. I need you to tell me what to do to make him stop." OK, most teachers aren't usually this snarky, but you get the idea. You say, "So tell me how often it happens, in what situations, and how it's address?" "I don't know; it's all the time!"
So basically, you need some more information, don't you? You can't really develop a plan or really be helpful at all unless you have a clear picture of what's going on. By taking some clean data, you will also then be able to talk to that teacher with objective measures: you will be able to demonstrate when the behavior is actually occurring, and when it is not! It's a first step!
Here is some basic info on each of the data sheets I put in this file. Note: This is not an exhaustive list, and the data sheets are only one style of that measurement. There are tons of ways to gather data, get information on your student. It is highly individualized. So if you don't find something that works here for what you need to capture, mess around with it! Modify it until you find something that really works to give you the information you need.
Continuous Measurement
Antecedent Behavior Consequence Data better known as A-B-C
This is the most frequently used when you just need a quick snapshot of something going on, OR if you are not sure what behavior is the most prevalent or problematic. It's not specific and will not give you good measurement when developing a plan, but it may shed insight into what is happening, when it's happening, with whom, how often, etc. It's also easy to learn, so you can show this to any para or teacher and with a little info, they'll be able to capture at least some anecdotal information surrounding the behavior.
There are many ways to take A-B-C data. It can be done quickly with just some notes about what happened before, during, and after the behavior like this:
Or it can be more individualized and thorough, like this:
Frequency/Rate Recording
This is data in which you tally each time the behavior occurs. For example, "Joe hit Jane 5 times." This is the most frequently used type of data collection in our field. It is typically used for behaviors with discrete beginning and ending points (e.g., throwing pencil, using a word to request, completing a direction given, swearing). And it is typically used when the response looks similar each time it occurs. It should be a behavior that is easily counted.
The advantages are that this measurement gives the most accurate representation of the behavior. You're recording it each time it occurs. When taken accurately, it’s reliable (all things equal, you get a similar result during different observation periods). The disadvantages are that it can be labor intensive, it's sometimes impractical, and it may not provide sufficient information for analysis. Sometimes other measurements (e.g., duration, latency) may be a more important variable.
Rate is a form of frequency recording where you are tracking the frequency within a time interval. For example, "Joe hit Jane 5 times in 2 minutes." I rarely take frequency data alone. It's really always rate. I mean, I could say, "Joe hit Jane 5 times," but maybe that's over the course of two years! Or maybe it's over the course of 2 minutes. The time parameter is sort of important to know.
When tracking data with rate, you must include the time interval in the definition, and it should be consistent. The result of the data is usually reported as number / unit of time, such as 5 instances in 10 minutes. You should also take the complexity of the task into account. K-I-S-S! Keep the definition simple and easy to identify in an observation so that you get the most reliable results. Break down the behavior into a smaller, observable piece that can be countable if you need to. Instead of a long definition on a tantrum, for example, maybe you track each instance of a self-injurious hit to the face.
A possible collection sheet might look like this:
Duration Recording
Here we have data that is a calculation of the amount of time a behavior occurs. For example, Joe had a tantrum for 35 minutes. Of course, we need to first defined what a "tantrum" is for Joe, what it looks like, what is counted as a "start" and a "stop." But, we're interested in how long it lasts in an effort to decrease that length. This is typically used for behaviors that last too long or too short; the time is what we want to manipulate. Data is taken with stopwatch, timer, or watch.
Examples of good duration behaviors: Time spent on an activity, time engaged in a defined challenging behavior, time spent in contact with a feared stimulus, time engaged in task at the table, and social interactions.
Latency Recording
Response Latency is the amount of time after a specific stimulus has been given before the target behavior occurs. For example, the teacher gives direction to start work, Joe takes 2 minutes to pick up his pencil and start. Data is taken with stopwatch, timer, or watch. Good examples of response latency might be the time between delivery of an instruction and initiation of response (e.g., students who need lots of prompts to start a task) or the time to first response following exposure to feared stimulus (e.g., fear doing into the dentist office).
Rating Scale
Sometimes there are behaviors you want to track that are not easily "counted" during an observation or may be loosey-goosey and difficult to train support staff how to capture. Such behavior may be considered on a rating scale. The behavior is defined and recorded on a scale.
Independent Work
1=Unable to proceed with assignment at all, completely stuck
2=Needs almost complete prompting, para sitting real close, many errors
3=Needs lots of prompting and directions, some answers independently, para sitting near by
4=Once the task is understood, begins and does most of task independently, no more than 20% incorrect
5=Able to read the directions and complete work independently, asking for help no more than one time, para not sitting at table
Rating Scale can be considered a discontinuous measurement depending on how it is defined. However, it only ever works if the behavior is defined at each level clearly. The rating is usually given at end of pre-determined interval. Problems with Rating Scale are that it depends on the recall of rater (you have to think back at how the learner did after the time has passed), and it is subjective unless the definition is very specific. However, it can be used to supplement interval recording or to measure social validity. I find it valuable to capture a general "how's the learner doing" feeling and not a specific measurement that I would use in a behavior plan. Definitely more loosey-goosey, but I find times where it's helpful to just get a quick snapshot.
There are additional continuous measurement procedures not included here such as celeration (measures the change—acceleration or deceleration—in rate of responding over time; e.g., number of words read per minute to a certain target) and inter-response time (amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a response class; e.g., going to the bathroom every half hour).
Percentage is also technically a continuous measurement procedure where you are expressing the count of a behavior as a percentage of overall opportunities. A word to say about percentages. This is the measurement I see most often used, particularly at school and in IEPs. A goal may be something like, "Johnny will ask for a break during a non-preferred activity 80% of the time." So, my question is always, What if he only has one non-preferred activity in a day? If he asks for a break, it's 100%; if he doesn't, it's 0%. What if the next day he has 10 non-preferred opportunities? What if he has 50? It changes the meaning of the data drastically.
Percentage is often is used incorrectly, simply given as a percentage with no standard measure of opportunities across time. It can be used, however. It is most accurate with divisor of 100 or more. Of course, that's not usually possible in our teaching settings, but standardizing the divisor to even 10 over a standard of time (like 10 in a day) will make your data much more meaningful.
Check out the next blog for Discontinuous Measures such as Partial Interval Recording, Whole Interval Recording, Momentary Time Sample, and Permanent Product!
Find the continuation of this post here.